Massachusetts Inspection Tough on Noise Levels

nisreo · Apr 8, 2008

Mustang5L5 said:
Emmissions with a Bcam is gonna be tough. A friend of mine ran one and couldn't get it to pass.

I am psyched about them doing away with emmissions testing on OBD1/EEC-IV cars. That means i can run a nice cam in my '88

Whats up with this exactly? I've heard about them doing away with emissions on obd1 and previous cars but never got the full details. The RMV site doesnt say anything about it.

Mustang5L5 · Apr 8, 2008

I don't really know the full details. I'm trying to find out myself. Apparently they are doing away with the dyno on pre-OBDII cars. I am not sure if that means all emmissions testing period, or if it will still have to pass the idle sniff test.

Whatever happens though takes place in Sept.

woodyy24 · Apr 8, 2008

i dunno about massechusetts or other states. but in IL you dont have to take emissions unless you have a 96 or newer vehicle. and they dont care about sound level, just that you dont have a CEL or any trouble codes and all your monitors are good.

in other words, no more IM240 test. no dyno or exhaust sniffers. they just hook up a scanner to your OBDII port and check the computer.
last time i went i asked the guy how he liked it (figuring he would cuz its easier and faster than the IM240) he said he pulled his back out the first week from searching under dashboards for the OBDII connector. he now wears a back brace.

Mustang5L5 · Apr 8, 2008

It's the other way around here. If you have a 96 or newer, you don't need emmissions testing unless you have a CEL on.

If your car is older than OBDII, onto the dyno it goes for load testing

skunk21 · Apr 8, 2008

well my friend stopped by my house he got pulled over by a state cop today about 3 hours ago, I'm like no ***** and told him about the post on here(strange how this came about)the state cop said it had to have the stock system, no aftermarket or modified exhaust + it was to loud. he has an 89, he was like and who has a stock factory system for my year? he said it atleast can't be loud they are cracking down. he didn't give him a fix it ticket.

I'm like wtf is going on here!! so we looked up the Mass general law chapter 90 section 7 here is a link...

http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-7.htm

basically only one sentance covers exhaust here it is.. Every motor vehicle so operated shall be provided with a muffler or other suitable device to prevent unnecessary noise. but chapter 90 section 16 states this..

http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-16.htm

no modified exhuast that amplifies the noise basically, wtf, this is so grey + they can't test this they have no #'s so what is loud??

the proposed bill 3574 which sema was trying to fight is isn't law a bill isn't law, if passed this was supposed to be inserted into line 176 of chapter 90 section 7 which is still unchanged, how ever this bill almost reads the same has section 16.

no where does it read stock,so the cop was wrong. we are held to mass general laws when it comes to this so he can't make his own. I'm keeping a copy in my glove box. this judgement thing is bull***** because they are not using a standard. most aftermarket stuff is C.A.R.B and 50 state legal and had to meet some type of standard to get certified so what is this crap.

according to sema's site flowmaster and magnaflow are 50 state emission legal and carb certified.

Mustang5L5 · Apr 8, 2008

greensvt21 said:
according to sema's site flowmaster and magnaflow are 50 state emission legal and carb certified.

Which they are....because installing those parts on a vehicle in no way changes the emmissions output.

Noise levels are another story. It's technically not an emmissions problems.

skunk21 · Apr 8, 2008

I understand you on that one Mike, but when they certified these companies I thought this so called certification was to allow them to be used has a replacement part. They are starting this "noise" crap has loope hole but yet they still have not come up with what is loud and what is not, even under the proposed bill. we have the ricers to thank but it isn't going to solve us getting bothered this summer. I don't know the answer I'm just throwing stuff out there I guess .

sticking it to the hobbyist.

Mustang5L5 · Apr 8, 2008

I agree with you though.

If i'm driving down the road and hit a high manhole cover and rip a hole in my OEM muffler, what do I do??

Go buy a new OEM cat-back at $1000???

This is all because some politicians hate being woken up by annoying cars with fart cans from their $1 mil Beacon hill apartments.

It's kinda like that one guy that tried to ban Fluff-a-nutter from schools because HE didn't like it

93gtmustang · Apr 8, 2008

Here's the deal.
If Massachusetts wants to have vehicles limited to a certain noise level, set a decibel reading and foot range that this level will be read at. So , for example, not to exceed 90 db at 10' from the vehicle. Letting an inspection employee make a judgement call is not consistant. What's loud to one person, may not be to the other and so on.
Also this decibel reading should be enforced for every vehicle including , commercial trucks, mass transit, pick-ups, and Harley's which are the loudest I've ever heard.

93gtmustang · Apr 9, 2008

Mustang5L5 said:
Where are you located?

western mass

MikeROD16 · Apr 9, 2008

damn, thats kinda stupid. I can understand if you run straight pipe, but with 2 cats and flowmasters? my brother is running long tubes with flows and a mild cam with heads and intake on his 71 and its really not all that loud. EFI engines are so much quieter. Personlly if they keep rejecting the car, i would make it full drag and take it to them. just to see what they say lol.

Mustang5L5 · Apr 9, 2008

93gtmustang said:
western mass

Might be why i have less issues with it.

I'm in Metro Boston, and the cops here are more lax because they just have more to do.

In fact, my ride in today i drove in front of a statie for about 5 miles on the highway with the flows humming and when i moved over for me exit he pulled up next to me and didn't even look over.

I've also asked my friends who have been taking their cars out of storage and inspecting them and none have had an issue with noise levels.

We are all from E. mass

skunk21 · Apr 9, 2008

I forgot to mention the cop told him the ticket would have been a $250 modified exhaust fine or some stupid ***** like that. I know some cops some I'm going to find out some more about this. It just seems like it cropped back up again, I'm hoping it dies back down again but I'm wondering what got everyone in a tizzy this year. I can't find anywhere if the bill actually passed, and sema hasn't updated the notice since last year or did it because how section 16 reads .

I know you got ignored but what would you do if you started to get harassed by the police for your exhaust? just curious. I'm not pulling my system so I don't know how I'm going to approach it. I don't get pulled over anyhow, haven't in 20yrs but still I'm not looking to start either. I'm sure I'm getting worked up over it also but at the moment I'm pretty pissed, it's more like a random profiling pull over deal. hey look a mustang type of thing, being a firefighter for 16yrs(even though I'm now retired) and knowing most of the local area cops they don't bother me or won't when they see who I am, but still it's the principle of the thing and it doesn't help me at the inspection station.

Mustang5L5 · Apr 9, 2008

greensvt21 said:
II know you got ignored but what would you do if you started to get harassed by the police for your exhaust?

I don't really know. That's a good question. I'm actually selling my '03 so i'm more or less worried if the person I sell it to is going to have these types of issues.

My '88 is my main concern. Under the new sept '08 rules, it wouldn't have to go on the dyno, but it's also kinda loud. It has all it's cats and a flows so it's not extreme, but it is loud. What do I do if i get pulled over?

Where the hell do i get a stock exhaust for a 1988 Mustang?

Or take it a step further. Say you owned a '69 Mach 1. The car is 40 years old. No way is it on it's original exhaust still and yet Ford doesn't sell OEM. If you were to locate a stock exhaust system, you'd prob pay BIG bucks for it. So what do you do?

In this case, i would hope to hell the law is just a noise level restriction and not an actual demand for an OEM exhaust on a vehicle. Manufacturers stock carrying parts for a vehicle 10 years after the last model (or carryover) is made. So where would i get a stock OEM exhaust for my 20-year old Mustang??

skunk21 · Apr 9, 2008

that's my point, I would tell them "hey Ford no longer produces exhaust parts for my year mustang so I did what I could and purchased a 50 state legal system, my car still has cats and is a V8 and makes noise,what else was I supposed to do ". That is the only thing I can think of. I have flows also and I'm not loud but then again if it is a judgement thing it may be loud.

oh well I think we beat up this topic enough.

trbkrb · Apr 9, 2008

Maybe their whole point is to harass you enough so you will pull your car off the road.

Anyway, you can put the SN95 exhaust on a fox if you want to. I ended up with a stock 97 take off cat back exhaust on my 87 and it fit fine, just had to cut and weld up one of the exhaust tip hangers to shorten it a bit. I would be tempted to find a used set of mufflers from a late 90's to 04 Mustang and bolt those mufflers in place, at least for the inspection. "Hey, they ARE stock. Look, they have the Ford oval on them!" LOL!

Mustang5L5 · Apr 10, 2008

The 99-04 stock mufflers do sound pretty good and are pretty loud for OEM stock.

I would have left them on except....um...i hit a high manhole cover, ripped my muffler open and didn't want to spend $1000 for an OEM cat-back!

J/K. I was going to leave it stock, but i got a VERY good deal on a flowmaster cat-back so of course i didn't hesitate

93gtmustang · Apr 11, 2008

I think I've found a place that will let my car in for inspection.
Should i back my timing to 8 or 10 degrees and fuel pressure back also?
I'm running 14 on the timing right now and 39 psi on the fuel pressure.
thanks

Mustang5L5 · Apr 12, 2008

10 degrees....drive around for an hour or so beforehand and get those cats nice and hot so they work better

93gtmustang · Apr 12, 2008

How about the fuel pressure?

Massachusetts Inspection Tough on Noise Levels

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